1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to an embeddable mounting device, which is mounted in a block wall. More specifically, the present invention relates to an embeddable mounting device, which utilizes an attachable faceplate such that the embeddable mounting device can be modified to suit a particular situation.
2. Background Information
Many buildings are currently being constructed of concrete blocks. It has been a common practice within the construction industry to affix various wall accessories (wall hooks, shelves, etc.) to concrete block walls. There are various types of wall attachment assemblies or anchors for securing wall accessories to concrete blocks. However, these prior art devices often suffer from many disadvantages. For example, the wall anchors often fail, such that the wall accessory can be pulled out of the concrete block. Also, some of the prior art anchoring systems require a substantial amount of time and effort to install. In addition, many of these prior art anchoring systems are not suitable for certain applications such as in detention centers or other public facilities, such as jails, prisons, juvenile detention centers and psychiatric hospitals.
It is a common practice within the detention industry and other public facilities, such as jails, prisons, juvenile detention centers, and psychiatric hospitals, for their new construction projects to construct the walls of a detection facility out of concrete blocks. To maximize security, these types of facilities have wall constructions that often require the interior of the blocks to have a cement agent poured into the cavity or cavities and that the cavities have one or more reinforcing rods extending from the interior of the block into the concrete blocks that are above and below. Also it is a common practice these types of facilities to permanently affix certain finishing such as the beds, cabinets, shelves, lavatories, sinks etc. and fixtures such as steel wall plates to the walls of the facility. A steel wall plate is a sheet of steel that is utilized to form or cover an existing wall to provided addition security within the facility. Permanently affixing these fixtures to the walls prevents destruction of the fixtures themselves and reduces the likelihood of an inmate utilizing the fixtures as a weapon to injure a guard or cell mate. The conventional method of permanently installing these fixtures has been to form a cavity within a fully constructed wall unit, install a reinforcing bar or bars into the cavity, and then grouting the reinforcing bar(s) within the cavity using a cementing agent such as cement. A steel plate is then welded or otherwise affixed to the reinforcing bars in a manner to cover the grouted cavity opening. The steel plate acts as a mounting base to which a fixture mounting bracket, such as a length of angle iron, is welded or otherwise permanently affixed.
This method of permanently affixing fixtures to concrete block walls, masonry walls and pre-cast walls is labor intensive and leads to a degraded wall structure. While this method works, it has several drawbacks. For example, the steel plate does not lie flush with the concrete block such that prisons could hide things such as hide razor blades, knives, drugs, and other contraband articles between the steel plate and the concrete block It would be a benefit, therefore, to have a embeddable mounting device that could be used in connection with a wall that did not provide a gap between the wall and a steel mounting surface and that forms an integral part of the wall construction. It would also be desirable to have a method for mounting a fixture permanently to a concrete block wall that did not require degrading the wall structure by forming a cavity within the preexisting wall during installation of the fixture.
One attempt to overcome some of the problems of the prior art is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,649,391, issued to Harry R. Layne, on Jul. 22, 1997. In this patent, a steel block is disclosed which is embedded into the concrete wall. This patent discloses welding the furniture or accessory to the wall. Moreover, this patent also teaches having fasteners formed on the steel block. While this steel block works very well for many applications, it is often limited to certain types of applications and/or requires welding the accessory to the steel plate.
In view of the above, there exists a need for an embeddable mounting device which overcomes the above mentioned problems in the prior art. This invention addresses this need in the prior art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.